Search Results for: fish

In this article we discuss how to make a simple fish aquarium oxygen generator circuit using the concept of electrolysis of water.

Generating Pure Oxygen

The production of oxygen through electrolysis can be expected to supply a pure and a bigger quantity of oxygen compared to the usual pumped air concept which injects only only a portion of oxygen in the aquarium, therefore using electrolysis procedure looks a more efficient than the pumped air option

The complete operational set up can be witnessed in the above shown figure.

The right side section of the diagram shows a small tank filled with clean tap water, having a lid which is appropriately fabricated to hold a plastic bottle such that its neck can protrudes out, and having a small opening some distance away for allowing the unused hydrogen gas to escape.

Two wires can be seen entering the water container with one of the wires pushed inside the bottle from its bottom end and appropriately sealed with epoxy glue and the other wire loosely held just below the lid opening.

The wire entering the bottle end is tied up with an electrode which could be ideally of graphite (salvaged from an old dead AAA cells) in order to prevent degradation due to oxidization, overtime

The wires can be seen attached with the output of a bridge rectifier, which is supplied with an input from the mains AC 220V or a 120V.

When mains is switched ON, the power enters the bridge rectifier and gets converted into a pulsating DC, this DC is introduced inside the water tank for initiating the required electrolysis.

The potential at positive end electrode of the wire generates O, or pure oxygen, while the potential at the negative wire electrode breaks H+H atoms from water generating hydrogen which escapes through the lid opening into the atmosphere.

The oxygen gas is forced to bubble inside the water enclosed inside the bottle and it emanates through the tube into the aquarium where it bubbles back from bottom to the surface enriching the water with pure oxygen and making sure that the marine life inside the aquarium gets the best of the experience in terms of breathing and oxygen absorption.

Please note that in the discussed concept the water alone is forced to break into its constituent parts, absolutely NO external catalyst in the form acid or salt should be added in the electrolysis tank, which might otherwise cause the generation of poisonous gasses instead of oxygen.

Making the Bottle Oxygen Collector

The bottle which acts as the intermediate oxygen collector can be easily built using any ordinary empty cold drink bottle or a mineral water bottle.

As demonstrated in the figure below, the wire end with the electrode is inserted from the bottom corner of the bottle and sealed with epoxy glue or putty.

Next, many small holes are punched near the bottom end of the bottle so that water is able to enter and fill the bottle and enable the process of electrolysis inside it.

Further on, a plastic flexible tube is inserted through the lid or the cork of the bottle and glued with epoxy, the other end of the tube is immersed in the aquarium jar for allowing the oxygen to pass into it for initiating the required fish aquarium oxygen generation.

After this the bottle is pushed in the tank so that water fills in and hlds the bottle erect in the tank. The wires are then appropriately attached with the bridge rectifier source enclosed inside a plastic box, with a mains cord terminating out from the input of the bridge.

That's it! Once the above procedures are finished, it's just about plugging and switching ON the mains, and watching the the oxygen bubbling out inside the fish aquarium, making the lives of the fishes merrier.

Warning: The explained electrolysis set up for the fish aquarium generator circuit is very dangerous due to the involvement of AC mains in the electrolysis tank. Extreme caution and safety must be exercised while building and testing the proposed units.

In this article we learn how to make a simple infrared controlled fish feeder circuit. The idea was requested by Mr. Harishvar.

Technical Specifications

Swagatam sir i just want a circuit which should turn on when i press and hold a key from my remote. my use is: i have a motor as a vibrator and i have fixed it near my aquarium tank.....

i just want to trigger the motor whenever i press a key from a particular remote i.e. if i press a key and hold it the motor should be on and as soon as i release the key the motor should be off....actually i have attached the motor to a container containing fish food ,,,....

if i press the remote the motor should be on due to which the container will vibrate and food will fall into the tank and as soon a s i leave the button the motor should be off....

this is the main aim of circuit....and also sir the motor should be triggered only with a particular kind of remote...so plzz design a circuit for the

remote also....the motor should not be triggered with any other remote...instead it should be triggered only with the unique remote that you should design....so please give the circuit as soon as possible....thank you

I just want a remote and a receiver.......if i press the button on the remote the receiver should trigger the motor as long as i keep the button pressed.....you may take the range any value........

if i sit my sofa and operate...it should operate......my sofa and my aquarium tank has about the distance of 5 meters......so do it anyway you want....

i just want the circuit to be working that's all....and also sir plxx make use of the components that are easily available and plzz make it as simple as possible....

The Circuit Design

The following diagram shows the basic circuit layout for the proposed remote controlled fish feeder circuit.

A rough Simulation of the above requested circuit can be witnessed below:

The above presented simulation of the proposed remote controlled fish feeder circuit can be realized with the help of the following points:

Circuit Description

As soon as the infrared signal from the remote handset is pressed, the IR signals reach and hit the IR sensor TSOP1738, and causes it to produce a low across its output/ground pinouts.

This low or negative signal enables T1 to conduct causing a positive pulse to flow to the base of T2, which in turn conducts and switches ON the relay.

The relay contacts can be seen wired with the desired fish feeder mechanism through possibly a DC 12V solenoid, as indicated in the above simulation.

Therefore whenever the remote handset is toggled, the relay and the fish feeder mechanism also respond accordingly, and stay activated until the input signal is cut off or the remote handset is switched OFF.

The design can be used in fish aquariums for implementing a remote fish feeding operation without the need of practically moving near the fish aquarium.

Although the above design might look extremely easy to build and use, it has a drawback. The circuit can be operated using any standard IR remote handset, while in the request a uniquely operated Rx, Tx could be seen proposed.

The post details a simple fading LED light effect generator circuit which can be set for operating in fish aquariums in the prescribed manner for a predetermined length of time. The idea was requested by Mr. Jaco.

Technical Specifications

Hi Swagatam. My name is Jaco and I am from sunny South Africa. I have an aquarium that I want to "modify" the lights on. I would like a circuit based on a cd4060 chip that can bring multiple strings of LED's from power off to max brightness and the reverse over a period of 8 - 12 hours.

I'm going to use set times to explain what I would want to happen. The actual timing will obviously not be that perfect. But here goes.

My basic idea - at 6am the circuit should start lighting up slowly to max brightness until 11am.

It should then stay on max brightness until 1pm.

Then slowly dim from max brightness to off at 5pm.

It should stay off until 7am the next morning when the cycle restarts. An arduino circuit will unfortunately not work for me, as I cannot get my hands on one.

Thank you in advance.

The Circuit Design

The requested fading LED light circuit for illuminating fish aquariums can be visualized in the above diagram.

I have used a 555 IC by mistake for generating the delay time interval, however a 4060 IC based circuit may be also effectively used in place of the IC 555 stage, in fact a 4060 circuit would be able to produce a 10 times bigger delay effect reliably, than the IC 555 counterpart.

The time interval oscillator section which is formed by the IC 555 produces the required sequence pulses for the attached 4017 IC which is a Johnson decade counter and divide by 10 IC. It becomes responsible for creating a shifting high logic across the shown 10 output starting from pin#3 to pin#11.

Meaning with every pulse generated from the IC 555 pin#3 at pin#14 of 4017 will cause the supply voltage to shift from its pin#3 (start pin) to the subsequent pinouts (2, 4, 7...etc), this implies that if the delay time between each pulse from the IC 555 is say 1/2 an hour, this would cause the high logic from pin#3 to pin#11 of the IC 4017 to consume around 1/2 x 10 = 5 hours.

The outputs of the IC 4017 can eb seen configured with a emitter follower transistor circuit formed around TIP122 which is a Darlington transistor and thus features a high current response across its base and emitter pinouts.

Since it's configured as an emitter follower ( or as a common collector), it ensures the generation of a precisely identical (almost) voltage across the load, connected at its emitter/ground, equivalent to the voltage applied at its base. It Implies that if the voltage at its base is 3V, then the voltage at its emitter would be around 2.4V (the 0.6V drop is inherent and cannot be avoided).

Similarly if the voltage at the base of the TIP122 is 6V, this will be interpreted as a 5.4V across its emitter...and so on.

This is the reason why the configuration is named "emitter follower", meaning an "emitter" lead which follows the base lead voltage of the transistor.

We can see an array of resistors connected across the pinouts of the 4017 IC which in turn is attached with the base of the TIP122 transistor, in conjunction with a 10k preset across the base and ground of the transistor.

These resistors across the 4017 outputs are arranged in an incremental value, such that it corresponds with the set 10k preset value and forms a potential divider network.

The voltage developed at the junction (base of the transistor) of this potential divider in response to the sequencing high across the relevant pinouts of the IC can be expected to be in an increasing order.

This incrementing potential difference order can be assigned across a few outputs of the IC 4017, say up to pin#4.

So the TIP122 can be assumed to respond to these incrementing potentials and produce an equivalently incrementing voltage at its emitter pin, which in turn makes sure that the connected LEDs go through a gentle reverse fading effect and become brighter slowly.

The 1000uF capacitor connected in parallel to the preset further aids to the effect and causes the above reverse fading to happen at a slow and a gradual manner.

Once the sequence reaches pin#7 and subsequently to pin#10, 1 and 5, these pinouts resistors can be selected such that a maximum voltage is generated at the base of the transistor with reference to the preset value.

This in turn enables the LEDs to stay illuminated at the maximum brightness, until the sequence has crossed these pinouts and reached pin#6, and subsequently to pin#9, 10 and pin#11.

The resistors in these pinouts may be fixed in a demoting fashion such that the potential difference generated at the base of the transistor goes through a falling potential level, which in turn is induced over the LEDs for generating a nice and slow fading effect.

The 1000uF capacitor at this point now acts in a reverse manner, and allows the fading to take place rather slowly, until the LEds are finally shut off as the sequence reaches the pin#11 of the IC4017.

After this the operation reverts to pin#3 and the cycle repeats as explained in the above discussion.

UPDATE:

In the above design I seemed to have missed the 24 hour resetting stage in the circuit, the following new improved version of the fading LED light timer circuit takes care of this feature and operates the LEDs exactly as per the mentioned request.

Adding 24 Hour Resetting Feature

Here the IC 4060 is used as a timer oscillator whose pin#15 is used for generating a relatively faster frequency for the IC2, such that the outputs of IC2 are able to genearte the required slow glow and slow fade sequencing effect on the LED driver transistor within 12 hour period.

On the other hand pin#3 of the IC 4060 which geneartes around 7 to 8 times slower frequency than pin #15 clocks IC3 appropriately, and this inclusion becomes responsible for the 24 hour resetting feature in this new circuit.

Pin#15 and pin#3 are arbritarily chosen here with an assumption that pin#15 would enable the LEDs to operate for 12 hours, while pin#3 pulse rate will reset the IC1 after every 24 hours via IC3.

This timing will need to be tested with some trial and error using the available extensive range option that IC1 and IC3 are able to provide through their 10nos of output pins, and these may be experimented for getting the most favarable timing range across both the features, that is for 12 hour LED effect and for the 24 hour reset.

Also do not forget the P1 adjustment which further adds to the adjustment range of the design.

The post explains a simple yet effective fish aquarium light optimizer circuit which automatically controls the illumination of a group of appropriately selected LEDs with respect to the varying daylight and after darkness sets in. The idea was requested by Mr. Amit

Technical Specifications

Hi Swagatam,

I liked Automatic 40 Watt LED Solar Street Light Circuit Project, but I am looking is a bit other way round.

1) LDR is in open, broad day light outside the House.

2) Series of LED (White RED BLUE GREEN ratio (3:1:1:1) is inside the house on the Fish Tank.

7) Can a generic circuit be made with more Solar panels to generate more power and Cater 3 tanks ? simulating day light is very important for a marine tank. do you like the concept?

The Circuit Design

As shown in the diagram the proposed automatic fish aquarium light optimizer circuit consists of just a couple of transistors as the active components, wherein the NPN device is configured as a common collector while the other PNP as an inverter.

During day time the solar panel produces the specified amount of light conversion supplying the common collector stage with the required amount of voltage.

The NPN transistor base is restricted with a maximum of 12 V with the aid of the connected zener which in turn ensures that the potential across the connected red, blue, green, white LEDs never exceeds this value regardless of the solar panel peak voltage levels.

During dusk when the solar panel light begins deteriorating, the LEDs also experience a proportionately diminishing voltage conditions simulating a proportionately dimming effect in their illumination levels, corresponding to the sunlight....until it's almost dark when these LEDs completely shut off.

In the meantime, as long as the solar panel voltage maintains an optimal voltage the PNP is forced to stay shut off, however as the sun begins to set, the potential at the base of the PNP device begins falling and when it falls below the 9 V mark, prompts the connected blue LEDs to brighten up slowly until these become fully lit after dusk.

The post explains an aquarium feeder timer circuit which sustains a set of continuous operations as per a predetermined timing sequence through the respective pot controls. The idea was requested by Mr. Mike.

Technical Specifications

Dear Swagatam,

I am trying to build a timer circuit to control an automatic fish feeder. It needs to operate on 12 volts. It needs to operate two relays. Both need to come on at the same time.

The first relay needs to shut off after 5.2 seconds. The second relay needs to shut off after 7 seconds. Then the process needs to repeat in 24 hours. Also can you convert 16 volts ac into 12 volts dc.

Thank you Mike

Circuit Schematic

The Circuit Design

As shown in the proposed fish feeder timer controller circuit, N1, N2 and N3, N4 are the four NAND gates from the IC 4093, configured as flip flop timer stages.

N1, N2 forms the 7 second delay timer, the period may be adjusted and set with the help of the 1M pot, identically N3, N4 is wired up as the second 5.2 second delay generator stage.

IC 4060 is designed as the 24 hour timer circuit for the required cycling of the desired time sequences.
When the circuit is powered, the 0.1uF capacitors at the inputs of N1 and N3 ground the respective inputs via the 100k resistors, rendering a negative latch across gate outputs, which in turn keep transistor relay driver switched OFF.

Now, for initiating the circuit the "start" button is pressed which reverts the gate latches to positive switching ON the relays simultaneously. This condition forces pin12 of IC 4060 to become high so that it stays disabled for the time being.

As per the proposed settings of the 1M pots, after about 5 minutes the capacitor at the N3 output charges up first forcing the N4 input to go high which yet again restores the latch to negative switching off the 5 second relay first, exactly in the same manner N2 relay follows and gets switched OFF after next 2 seconds.

The above situation causes the output of N2 and the input of N1 to go "low" which means now pin12 of IC 4060 is enabled at the required "low" allowing it to begin its counting until the stipulated 24 hour time is elapsed, when its pin3 goes high causing an automatic triggering of the above explained cycle.
The process now keeps repeating indefinitely as long as the aquarium feeder circuit is held in the powered state.

The post discusses a stop-motion switch circuit or a strike indicator for aiding fishing yo yo applications. The idea was requested by Mr. Mike.

Technical Specifications

(kindly bear the long discussion) Hello Sir,

My name is Mike. I am the one requesting help with this stop-motion switch from the "Homemade Circuits" Blog page. Your help in this is greatly appreciated and a donation is most definable applicable.

I am working on this project for a customer and I have most of it done but this particular part has me hung up. Once I get this complete, and get paid for it, then I will offer compensation for your time. As it is well deserved.

For the circuit is for a fishing yo yo. Once the device is triggered, the rotation of the line spool will rotate an optical wheel like that in an old ball mouse.

The optical encoder circuit is the first part. The digital output from the encoder will trigger a motion detector that will trip the flash pattern.

When active, the motion will flash the LED yellow until motion stops (the fish fighting on the line stops). When the motion stops, the system will switch from high to Low from the 556 switching the LED from a flashing yellow to a solid green indicating the fish is too tired to fight anymore and can be retrieved from the water with little or no fight.

I have attached a jpg photo of my schematic I have so far. Before spending the money on components, I was wanting to double check the system on a prototype breadboard first.

(The attached file is checked and clean of bugs)

Thank you again.

Sorry to bug, promise I'll keep messages limited. But I had a revision of the original print. Thought with the digital output from the encoder, why would I need a detector to trigger the flasher?

Couldn't I just use the digital output from the encoder to trigger the 556 and remove the detector part altogether?

But with that circuit, would the high side of 556a flash until the threshold switches low to trigger 556b and set the second led to ON until reset?

Then on reset, both go low (off) until signal from the encoder triggers the 556 again? Just double checking my work. Thanks Hello Mike,

Analyzing the YoYo Concept

Your second concept looks fine, you can try a few mods though, replace R3 with a 1uF/25V cap and use a series resistor, may be a 10k in between the collector of 2N3906 to the trigger of 556, this would stabilize the motion sensor output and provide a clean input to the 556 trigger pinout.

Kindly note that I always prefer publishing readers views and schematics in my blog, I won't publish this info in my blog since you don't want it to be, but please remember that in future I would always want them to get public through my blog.

I completely understand. As myself looking for a solution to something like this, I too (obviously) search blogs as well. I will say, that the overall project is under provisional patent and the Utility Patent is going to be applied for the first of October this year.

But the schematic and electronics are only under patent IF used in the same manor as described in the overall design of the device (the fishing yo yo).

All that to say... the schematic, function, and design are open for any other application with no restrictions other than using on a yo yo.

So, please... By all means let the info free! I would have done it myself, but didn't know how. If you can, consider this email as written permission from an authorized representative of the Tyendaga Research Center to edit, print, duplicate, distribute, or anyway use the information regarding the electrical circuitry in any manor within US Legal boundaries and not infringing upon the patented Automatic Night Fishing Yo Yo that you see fit.

In short, thank you for your help and by all means... Publish!

And for the circuit, I get what you're saying. That makes sense. Thank you. I'll get the components this weekend and plug them in the protoboard. If you are interested (I promise I won't bug if you don't want.) I can send you pics of the outcome.

ya, sorry bout the rant. It was late and I was tired. I tend to babble when I don't get sleep. But good enough.

Stop-Motion Relay Switch

The actual title of the original idea for the circuit (what I was looking for) is called: a Stop-Motion Relay Switch". But of course there is no longer a relay so you can use the same title or use a different one. The circuit is not patented unless combined with the yoyo (but you get that I know).

I still don't quite know how to post pics, so would it be cool to just send you an email with them and you can post?? or is there a want that I can that I don't know?

Like I say... you help me, I help you. I think the Barter system is the BEST system ever created! Better than money even... sometimes!

I'll get back with you the first of the week with what I got.

Please check the attached diagram above, I think this will do the job. I saw one serious fault in your design, the 2N3906 did not have a base resistor, I think you might have already blown of this transistor during the testing procedures.

Ra, Rb and C may be appropriately selected for getting the desired flash rate on the LED.

That's crazy, man! how'd you come up with the idea of the second pnp combined with the npn?!? That controls both the reset AND the output! Ingenious! I think that might work. I'll play with that and let you know how it turns out.

Thanks Bro

Welcome Bro,,,,I forgot to include a resistor at pin#3 of 555, please connect a 1K resistor there, else you'll fry the LED:)

Ya, I caught that too. Already plugged one in. But good eye. Taking the day off. Trying to track down another 2n3904 but have some stuff to rip apart to find it. I'll get back on it tomorrow and let you know how it turns out.

BTW... Because you have been such a help in this, I'm including you in the compensation side too. That was the deal, right? So, once I get paid, I will pay it forward.

God bless

Just a bit of correction, the resistor should be across the cathode and ground of the LED and not with pin#3, because we want pin#3 to ground all vibrational signals from the emitter of the NPN transistor every time it goes zero.,

That means now have two resistor in line, one resistor at the collector of the NPN and another at the cathode of the LED, this will 100% fix the matter for sure.

...and thanks very much for considering my contributions:)

Best...

Ughhhh! Mechanical Engineering is SO much easier!

Ok. Here's what I got...

Redid the circuit 4 times to double check my work. I only have two parts in question. The 0.47uF capacitor off of Q3 is impossible to find without ordering one.

I used a 0.1uF being the closest one I have. Is there another value that I can substitute? Also, the Detector (Q1) is from a mouse circuit with a 3-pin photo-transistor.

I don't want to blow it out so I left the base open and connected the collector to HI and the emitter to base of Q2 (2n3904). All other values are as spec.

I added a few photos to give visual aid to my work. Maybe you can see something I missed. (note: The led is solid not blinking) If you want video, I can send that too. (There will be another email to this so this is 1 of 2)

PS... Notice the title block of the schematic. I added something. I figured you deserve it. I plan on copywriting this when its done and I will put your name on the copywrite as a co-writer if you're cool with that. I'll let you know how that turns out.

Checking the Final Design

Yes the circuit looks perfect now, but I could not understand the pics, do you mean the circuit isn't functioning?

because with a well defined voltage at 3906 collector the 555 should start flashing the LED.

For the receiver you can use any IR sensor of TSOP17XX series.

As for the reset function, you can do it by adding an additional set/reset stage, along with a spdt spring switch.

The switch would load on pressure and set the circuit into operation, once the fish is caught and removed of the hook, the switch would reset the circuit into off position and switch-off the LED..

I'll try to provide the details through a diagram soon.

You can use 1uF in place of 0.47uF.......0.1uF would hardly filter anything, won't do any good.

This is just an idea, not sure if it would suit your requirement exactly? Referring to the diagram, as long as the string is without any tension the magnet stays close to the reed switch due to spring pressure keeping the reed closed.

The situation keeps the PNP switched OFF which in turn keeps our LED circuit switched OFF.

The moment string is pulled > the magnet pulls away > the reed disconnects > the PNP switches ON > our LED circuit gets activated, and starts performing the proposed actions....our LED circuit remains activated for so long as the fish is not pulled of the hook or the string looses tension.

Feedback:

Very cool idea. I might use that for my reset function. I got the thing to work. The base of the Q1 Detector was sent to high (Vcc) and it started working.

Blinking with no motion and fast blink (Almost like an always on but still pulsed to the speed of the opti wheel. Works!) but there wasn't any way to reset without physical grounding (Light off). once ground was removed, blinking began without motion.

Maybe a transistor to switch from reset ground of Pin 4 to the Base of Q1. Once Q1 senses motion, it trips a 3904 (?) from low to high activating the circuit then a push button momentary switch could "reset the transistor back to low until signal received again.

What do you think?

I like your idea with the magnet but again, trying to keep it simple for manufacturing. More parts, more money, then higher price on the shelf, less buyers.

I'll see what I can do though. Good work on that reed switch. I'll work on that.

I get it! Instead of a reed switch, why not use the catch/release lever to act as a switch itself. Both parts are made of metal.

I can insulate the latch from the body and once the cord releases the lever, it would make contact with the catch stop and whalla! Contact! I'll send you a pic of what I mean... One final question...

Currently, I am using 4 off-the-shelf AAA batteries to achieve 6.3vDC. However, I was wanting to reduce the package size to achieve the same or close to voltage. How long do you thing 2 coil cells like a CR2032 or similar last?

I have 2 LC-16340 3vDC @ 1000mAh batteries like the CR123A but rechargeable, but I didn't want to over power the current on the board and fry everything.

If I use the 16340's, I could add a simple charging circuit to the system and make them rechargeable. But again, I don't want to fry the board. Thoughts?

Also, I am planning on using an ultra-bright high power led for the circuit (Not sure of specs yet). Would the current values of the rest of the circuit be ok for that power? BTW, the 555 I used was a cn rated for 18v max @ 600mA.

Fine-Tweaking the Circuit

As long as the supply voltage is within 15V, current is immaterial, you can use any AH battery that suits your costing... no issues, higher current (AH) would mean greater back up time without recharging and vice versa.

As for the resetting issue of the 555 IC, the IC would cleanly stop flashing if it's pin#4 is kept aloof of any residual voltage (above 3v). I think the PNP 3906 might not be switching off completely or may be is faulty. Once Q1 switches off, Q2, Q3 should also completely switch off cutting of pin#4 of 555 from the supply completely, and grounding it via R3.

The main thing to watch out is the voltage at the collector of the PNP 3906, it should be zero voltage when the detector is not detecting anything.

I saw one more issue in our circuit, to be be more safe the detector collector should be connected with a resistor (470 ohms will be OK) so that Q2 base does not get affected. Hey brother,

The Fishing YOYO Design Finalized

Sorry I didn't get back with you. But here's an update...

The final fishing yo yo stop motion switch circuit works well enough to suite my needs. Thank you SOOO much for your help.

So this is where we are at... Tuesday, 1 Oct, I am filing for a utility patent. It takes 8-12 weeks for us to be awarded the final patent. I have a buyer lined up waiting for the patent to go through. Once the process if finalized and the sale is complete, we all get paid.

Nice working with you, Swags. You the man. Hope to work with you again in the near future.

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Swagatam is an ardent electronic researcher, inventor, schematic/PCB designer, manufacturer, and an avid publisher. He is the founder of https://www.homemade-circuits.com/where visitors get the opportunity to read many of his innovative electronic circuit ideas, and also solve crucial circuit related problems through comment discussion.